MoveOn.org Urges People to Skip Work on Election Day

(CNSNews.com) - The liberal activist group, MoveOn.org is urging people to skip work on Nov. 7 and volunteer to call voters in 30 competitive districts in an effort to get more liberals to show up at the polls.

"Take the day off work," MoveOn.org said in a statement released Thursday. "Skip your annoying commute. Skip those endless meetings. This election is the best chance we've had in years to change the direction of our country. And we have a plan to put dozens of races over the top by making hundreds of thousands of get-out-the-vote phone calls on Election Day."

The group plans to call voters during the four days leading up to the midterm congressional election, with a goal of 750,000 on Nov. 7 itself.

"There are 25 Republicans whose seats will be decided by only a few hundred or thousand votes. We're calling people who are likely to lean progressive if they vote at all, but who might not vote, judging from their voter history," said MoveOn.org.

"We can decide if there's another right-wing Supreme Court justice. We can decide whether the occupation in Iraq goes on indefinitely," the group added. "And we can decide if we'll finally get the healthcare, clean energy, and corruption-free democracy we all deserve."

MoveOn.org also noted that "there's no legal concern with allowing employees to use personal leave or vacation time to volunteer as long as it's in accordance with normal company policy."

But Brian Darling, director of Senate Relations for the conservative Heritage Foundation, called the idea of asking people to take the day off work "odd."

"Conservatives tend to work and then take some time off to go vote. They wouldn't take the day off to go volunteer their efforts," Darling told Cybercast News Service. "I guess it's a different mentality between conservatives and left-wingers."

"I'm not that concerned," Darling added. "I just assume that there won't be that many individuals who will participate in it, because MoveOn.org doesn't have a very high percentage of Americans that support them.

"MoveOn.org has not had a history of winning campaigns," Darling said.

John Keeley, communications director for the Center for Immigration Studies, said the idea is similar to the "Day Without an Immigrant" illegal immigration rally earlier this year.

"The call for a boycott is reminiscent of the boycott of earlier in the spring, and that had the effect of achieving the exact opposite of what the organizers wanted," Keeley told Cybercast News Service.

"These people had a sense that these people were doing the opposite of what the rest of us are doing - showing up for work, showing up for school - that's what we do in America," he said.